Why Crying is Good For You

Think about it, the first thing you did when you were born was to cry. And if you didn’t, everyone would have been worried to death; some babies are even spanked or pinched so that they would. Now, why do you think that is? After delivery, the cry helps the baby take in some air to its lungs for the first time, thus expanding them. While you may not like that you cried (err not that you knew though), but hearing that loud cry was music to your parents’ ears and proof that you could breathe outside the womb on your own. But now as adults, we hold back the tears, wanting to be strong; because crying is seen as a sign of weakness. When in truth crying is good and beneficial to our health. Biochemist, Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis found out reflex tears are 98% water, however emotional tears contain stress hormones that are excreted from the body through tears. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins which accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.” No wonder, after you’ve had a good cry you’re just relieved and feel much better. When you cry it helps you move forward and relieves stress. It’s one therapy that can help reduce emotional stress. When you let some negative emotions go unchecked; it can affect your body physical, psychologically and what not; which may lead to damage of the heart or brain and other stress-related diseases. According to Dr William frey, ‘crying is not only a human response to sorrow and frustration, it’s a healthy one’. Sometimes to get through losing a relationship, losing a friend or even failing at something all you need is to let the tears flow. Crying improves your mood. Have you ever cried so much about a situation and felt your heart was going to burst out of your chest, but felt much better afterwards? You feel a relief and feel liberated. Crying is cleansing, it rids the body of icky substances and releases chemicals that help us deal with the pain. After a good cry your head is clear enough to handle situations more rationally and positively. Crying also protects and cleanses the eye. Remember when you are cutting onions and start to tear up? There’s a chemical from the onion that is released and it creates a sulphuric acid. Your tear glands produce tears that wash and get rid of the chemical from the eye. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being in touch with your feelings. Big girls/boys don’t cry? Durh they do and you should too. Crying is not a sign of weakness rather it’s a sign of strength and shows how strong you are. So next time you are trying to be tough and suppress those tears remember how much better you would feel and how much stronger it would make you become if you would just let go.

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This article was first published on 16th August 2017

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